Edo Govt Dares Obaseki To Come Back And Face Investigative Panel On Stewardship, Resolves To Petition EFCC

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The Edo State Government is poised to drag the immediate past governor of the state, Godwin Obaseki to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as soon as investigations are concluded into alleged siphoning of the resources of the state through some of his controversial flagship projects like the Museum of West African Arts (MOWAA) and the Radisson Hotel.

The government also challenged Obaseki to return home and face the investigative panel if he has nothing to hide, stating that seeking refuge under the courts would not help his case as the courts are desirous of accountability and transparency. He chided him that “Those who are guiltless should not be afraid of probe and investigation”.

Insisting that the era of mindless plundering of Edo’s resources to build private enterprise had gone with him, the government, in a press statement by the state commissioner for information and strategy, Prince Kassim Afegbua on Saturday, said “no amount of scapegoating and blackmail can fault the facts we have established concerning MOWAA and the RADISSON Hotel in Benin City”.

Afegbua’s statement was a reaction to a tirade launched against him by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which accused him of disinformation to tarnish Obaseki’s image “by trivialising, distorting and vitiating one of the most disciplined, transparent and forward-looking gubernatorial performances in Edo State’s history” when at a media parley, he accused the former governor of defrauding the state.

The commissioner had last week dismissed PDP’s claim that the state committed only ₦2bn to acquire the property which was later developed into the contentious Radisson Hotel.

Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Dan Osa-Ogbegie, had claimed that even before the commencement of operations, the state’s investment in the Radisson project had appreciated significantly and was conservatively valued at over ₦65bn, with further upside expected once operations began.

In a statement on Saturday titled “RE: APC’S Illiterate Propaganda On Radisson Hotel And Desperate Smear Campaign Against Godwin Obaseki”, Osa-Ogbegie alleged that “Since assuming office, the Okpebholo government has operated in blind rage, determined to dismantle and demonise Obaseki’s legacy projects, not because they failed, but precisely because they succeeded and set standards this government neither understands nor can replicate”.

However, firing back in his statement titled, “Godwin Obaseki’s School of Economics, Finance and Fraud”, Afegbua alleged that “These two projects (MOWAA and Radisson Hotel)  reek of the same pattern of profligacy, fraud, malfeasance, predatory and dubious control by a government that was in wholesale acquisitive, draconian, dictatorial, and prebendal mode in its transactions for eight unbroken years”, adding, “from the evidence before us, the Godwin Obaseki-led government behaved like famished baboons let loose on a banana plantation where they devoured everything at sight to satisfy their ravenous appetite. The Radisson Hotel project is yet another prey that they pounced on”.

Citing the case of the Radisson Hotel, the commissioner said the evidence of financial malfeasance during the Obaseki regime are stark, alleging that he obtained a loan of N25 billion for which the state now commits a monthly payment of N385 million to service.

“He took N25b naira from the stock market in the name of the Edo State Government, invested same in a legacy project, and midstream, invited a brand-new investor to purchase the project, and then ceded only 20% equity to the state that had expended N25b on the project. Till date, no record of this investor ploughing money into the project to warrant his 80% equity ab initio.

“The N25b sourced from the Stock Market is still being paid through an Irrevocable Standing Payment Order of N385m monthly by Edo state Government. Yet, your so-called investor, registered a brand-new company in May 2024, with no antecedents to support afore involvement or success in the hospitality business or any other. 

“They did not go through any competitive bidding to acquire a whooping 80% of that hotel pronto”.

Wondering what manner of financial wizardry that was, Afegbua posited that “This is only possible in Godwin Obaseki’s school of economics and public finance. And we have elected never to enroll in such dubious college of fraud”.

Maintaining that the Radisson Hotel remained that of the Edo state government, the commissioner vowed that “Every kobo of Edo taxpayers’ money spent and invested in the project would be accounted for. You cannot use Edo state government as a collateral entity to source N25b naira from the stock market and invest the money for the benefit of your friends and cronies”.

On the controversy surrounding the government’s disconnection from the Ossiomo Power Plant, Afegbua explained that “The state government has no hand in Ossiomo Power Plant, but the Chinese Partners and Owners who were allegedly being short changed by the company only demanded for their Return on Investment.

“What we did was to remove our consumption from Ossiomo power plant by installing a more user-friendly solar power plant in government house, and through BEDC (Benin Electricity Distribution Company) services.

Expressing the government’s resolve to invite the EFCC, Afegbua hinted that “Once the investigations are concluded, the state government will formally submit a petition to the EFCC to bring Godwin Obaseki to book”, declaring that “No amount of hatemongering, propaganda and noise making will distract our Governor from his resolve to right the wrongs of the previous administration”.